September 2, 2015

Rory had difficulty sleeping. All night, she tossed and turned, trying to escape from an unusual recurring dream. She had dreamt that she had some strange idea one day to skip work and hop onto a random outgoing train, and that she had arrived at a magical school. Then, she was given a decision to either return to her home in London or stay, and her dream self kept making the crazy decision to ditch her job, her brother, and her high school to stay at the fantastical school! It was absurd.

When Rory's watch alarm finally beeped at 6:45 after hours of restlessness, Rory rolled over on the comfortable leather sofa and performed her routine search for her phone. She blindly stretched her hand out toward Odi's coffee table. However, instead of grazing the sleek glass top of the coffee table, her hand smacked into a cold, grainy surface. Her eyes popped open in bewilderment. There was no glass coffee table, no blue leather sofa. Instead, she found herself staring at a rough stone wall from a green leather sofa. There was a crackling of a fireplace behind her, and the lamps that dangled from ceiling chains above her emitted a soft green light that reflected against the shiny, hardwood floor. As she rose to a perch on the green leather sofa, she noticed an elaborately carved mantelpiece above the fire and an elaborate emerald portrait of a serpent above it. As she noticed her surroundings, she remembered where she was: the Slytherin common room in the absurd school. She had actually agreed to completely change her life.

Rory shook her head and searched the floor for her blue canvas rucksack. Spotting it at her feet, she reached into it and extracted her toiletries. After shuffling to the bathroom, splashing her face with water, and brushing her teeth, she packed her bag and stepped through the portrait covering the dungeon. She followed the path through the tangle of corridors she had memorized the night before until she reached the gargoyle outside of the headmistress's office.

"Catnip," she said. The gargoyle stepped aside to reveal the spiral staircase. She stepped inside the stairwell. As she climbed, she pondered what house she would be sorted into. She obviously wouldn't be a Hufflepuff. After all, she wasn't very honest and her spontaneous school transfer didn't display much loyalty. She liked to think of herself as brave, but she doubted she could associate with students as mean as that Gryffindor group on the train. She also thought she was clever, but usually her cleverness was a side effect of her constant reading than a natural trait. She definitely was not cunning enough to deliver a successful lie to Nate. However, she had an unquestionable appreciation of learning. Rory had little doubt that the sorting hat would pace her in Ravenclaw.

As she approached the top of the spiral staircase, Rory glanced at her watch. It was 6:58. She would be 2 minutes early. She climbed the last three steps as slowly as she could manage and entered the circular office. Owls hooted and fluttered around the office. Just like last night, Professor McGonagall sat behind the enormous hardwood desk in the center of the room, squinting at a piece of parchment. Rory knocked on the arch at the top of the stairwell. Unlike last night, the headmistress didn't jump, since she expected Rory this time. She simply looked up from the parchment and informed Rory, "You're a minute early."

"Yes I am," agreed Rory.

Like the night before, the headmistress swished her twig and a chair whooshed to the closer side of the desk. Rory took a seat and folded her hands in her lap.

"You are here for your sorting," said the headmistress. Rory nodded. The headmistress placed the parchment on the enormous desk. Then she reached behind her to grab the shabby pointed hat that now sat atop a shelf behind the desk. As the headmistress faced away from her, Rory attempted to read upside down and noticed that it was a list. She had deciphered "Isla Arabel- Hufflepuff" and "Debbi Boswell- Hufflepuff" before the headmistress turned back to Rory, who shifted her eyes to the professor's stern face. "You realize, I hope, that sorting only happens once. Whatever house you get is what you keep," warned the headmistress.

Rory nodded again, picturing herself in a blue robe exchanging fish puns with her peers. She smiled. "I'm ready," she said. She straightened her posture as McGonagall placed the shabby, brown hat on her forehead. Rory noticed that the hat didn't sink below her eyebrows. Of course, she thought, I'm not eleven, after all.

"No, you're fifteen now," responded a voice inside her head. Rory froze. A voice was inside her head that was not her own. Was she schizophrenic?

"No, you're not mental either. You are late, however." Late? She had gotten here early!

"Four years and half a day late, to be exact, not that I care" continued the voice. "I am the sorting hat by the way." Rory wondered how she could be four years late if she hadn't learned about Hogwarts until yesterday.

"Sure, don't apologize for missing our appointment," responded the sorting hat resentfully. "Just keep pretending you forgot about all the letters the headmistress sent you! What a great excuse! You clearly aren't destined for Hufflepuff!

Obviously, thought Rory.

"I see that you are pretty smart. You value learning. Yet, you are also somewhat spontaneous, and you don't fear following your own passion despite teasing from family members or peers."

Rory grew impatient. The sorting felt like it had been going on for much longer than it had with the eleven-year-olds.

"Of course sorting you is taking longer! Four years ago, you would have been more two-dimensional. Sorting you would have been easy, and the wide divisions between houses would have no threat. But no! You had to wait four years and grow more complex. Now you possess some traits from all the houses, and I can't sort you based solely on how your house with effect you. Now I have to consider how you will influence the house! I have to figure out who you can most benefit! Don't blame me!" shouted the hat.

Rory still did not understand the hat's obsession with their alleged missed appointment.

"You're an insufferable git," huffed the hat. "And because of that, I'm putting you in Gryffindor."

The last word the hat spoke echoed throughout the circular room, as if it had been shouted aloud. Suddenly, the headmistress plucked the hat off of Rory's head and returned it to the shelf.

"What was that?" Rory asked. "There's a hat that can read minds?! How?"

"Magic," replied the headmistress.

"Why did it keep saying I was late?"

McGonagall blinked. "You were a minute early."

"Yes, but-"

"We have a lot to accomplish this morning, so I would appreciate if you could keep the interruptions to a minimum, Miss Jones."

Rory crossed her arms defiantly, but she nodded anyway.

"You're in my old house," she commented. "As such, you will need a red school uniform. Luckily, we have extras we can give you."

Rory thought back to the witch in emerald-green robes reading through the name's of first years the night before. She could have sworn that the witch belonged to Slytherin. "But you were wearing green yesterday," Rory replied.

The headmistress's face grew stern at the interruption, but she replied anyway. "So were you. Speaking of which, we can send owls to your home to gather your clothes so long as you provide the address. If you have anyone to inform of your absence, we can send owls to them, too. I can provide you with a quill and also have a trunk you can use when the owls return with your clothing. I assume you don't have a wand?" the headmistress gestured to her twig.

Rory shook her head. Twig=wand, she thought.

"That's alright," said McGonagall. "Ollivander is coming by later. He can find you one. I will fetch you your uniform now. Write any letters you must. I will be back in a few minutes." The headmistress exited the office.

Rory was unsure how to use a quill and parchment, so she unzipped her rucksaack and removed a pen and paper. She wrote two letters. The first was addressed to her boss.

Maria,

I apologize for my lack of warning, but I must quit work at the restaurant.
I decided to transfer schools yesterday, and I will not be able to work again until winter break.
I will let you know when I have available hours. Good luck with the restaurant!

Best,
Rory Jones

She addressed the second letter to her half brother.

Odi,

I am transferring high schools. My new school not only offers multiple years of astronomy,
but it also pays for my tuition! It is also a boarding school, so you no longer need to rent the apartment.
Unfortunately, the school has no cell phone service, so I might contact you less frequently now.
Please inform my old school that I have transferred. Good luck with the film!

With Love,
Rory

As Rory signed the last letter, McGonagall strode into the circular office holding five red uniforms. Rory exchanged the letters for the uniforms, and the headmistress tied each of the letters to the legs of two owls. Rory trailed them with her olive eyes as they flew out the open window of the tower.

The headmistress sat at her desk. "Now, let's discuss your classes. You must take Transfiguration, Charms, Potions, History of Magic, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Astronomy, and Herbology. You have the option to take Arithmancy, Care of Magical Creatures, Divination, Muggle Studies, and Runes." Rory thought back to Isla, Debbi, and Tyler and automatically ruled out taking Care of Magical Creatures. Arithmancy sounded vaguely like math, so she decided it would be in her best interest to take it. She decided that if she wanted to catch up with her grade, she should probably limit her electives to two.

"What is a muggle?" Rory asked.

"A non-magical person," responded the headmistress. Rory thought that Muggle Studies would be an easier class, since she still was not convinced that she wasn't one.

"Can I take Arithmancy and muggle studies?" she asked.

The headmistress said she could. She also informed Rory that the Muggle Studies classes did not build off of one another, so Rory could start in her year.

"Are there proficiency exams for Arithmancy and Astronomy?"

McGonagall swished her wand and a stack of papers appeared on her desk. "Are you ready to take them now?"

Rory nodded and dragged her chair closer to the desk.

"This first test is last year's astronomy final for fourth years," McGonagall informed her. "It is currently 7:15. You may begin. You have an hour for each exam."

Apparently, the first four years of astronomy had covered a respectable amount of material. Fortunately, so had she. The test required knowledge about the names and locations various constellations, stars, galaxies, and nebulae. It also tested the knowledge types of galaxies, like spiral and disk galaxies. The most complicated calculation on the test used gravitational potential energy, which Rory had learned about the year prior. As she finished the exam half an hour early, she felt like she aced it.

The Arithmancy exam was easier than she had expected, too. She understood very little about the divine understanding gained from the calculations, but as it turned out, the exam was mostly testing an understanding of material learned in geometry, algebra, and trigonometry. Rory definitely had not aced the test, but she felt she earned a high enough grade to pass.

When she finished her exams, it was 8:30. McGonagall sent her to Ollivander, and an old white-haired wizard gave her a vine wood wand with dragon heartstring core. It worked perfectly on the first try, he said with a surprised tone. Rory could not understand why being correct was so rare for a wand professional. After she changed into the red uniform, she returned to the headmistress's office, where she received her class schedule and a school map.

Monday, Wednesday, and Friday
9:30 am History of Magic 1: G/S Classroom 72
10:35 am Charms 1: G/R Classroom 1A
11:40 am Transfiguration 1: G/H Classroom 1B
12:45 pm Potions 1: G/R Classroom 205
10:00 pm Astronomy 5: G/R Astronomy Tower

Tuesday and Thursday
8:30 am Herbology 1: G/S Greenhouses
10:00 am Arithmancy 5: G/H Classroom 318
11:30 am Defense Against the Dark Arts 1: G/S Classroom 104
1:00 pm Muggle Studies 5: G/S Classroom 74

She was relieved when she saw Astronomy 5: G/R and Arithmancy 5: G/H on her schedule. At first, she did not understand the letters at the end of the class name, but then realized that they indicated which houses are in the class. Remembering Isla's complaint about being nervous for Arithmancy, she feared their combine Gryffindor and Hufflepuff class. She shrugged, reassuring herself that she probably would not have to sit with Isla. After thanking the headmistress and retrieving her rucksack, she scampered to the Great Hall to grab breakfast before the start of class.

As she walked through the pointed arch that led into the great hall, her eye caught Nate laughing with Fritz and other friends at the Slytherin table. She waved at them, and they looked up, but they did not wave back. She walked over to their table and set her bag on the bench, taking from it the borrowed green robe. Holding it out to Nate, she thanked him for lending it to her. He took it and opened his mouth as if he was about to respond when Fritz jumped in.

"Wow, Rory, I didn't know you felt like you were so much better than everyone else," he sneered, gesturing to her new uniform.

"What?" Rory asked, positive she had misheard him. After all, he had been nice last night. Did the color of her uniform change how people treated her that much?. She heard unhappy grumbles from the other students at the table. She blinked a few times before facing Nate. "Can I sit with you?" she asked him

Nate's eyes were wide. He glanced at Fritz quickly and then looked down at his feet. "You should go sit with your new family," he said, jerking his head in the direction of the Gryffindor table while still managing to look at the ground. The venom in his voice was nearly tangible.

Rory looked at the table with the red tablecloth and noticed that there were only four students lingering. Of course, they had to be the rude students from the train. Rory's temper flared. Apparently the color of her uniform did change things that much. She looked back at Nate. "You're being rude," she informed him. Her voice was a higher pitch than usual.

Nate glared up at her. "At least it isn't unexpected," he justified.

Rory's throat tightened. She seized her rucksack and stomped toward her new table. She tried to sit as far away from the four students from the train as she could, but as soon as she sat, the three slid down the bench to talk to her. The silver-haired girl introduced, "Hey! I'm Abigail. Are you a new student?" Rory nodded. "That's so cool! Rory, right?" Rory nodded again. She did not trust the girl's sudden kindness. "Well this is Fay." She gestured to the girl with red curly hair. "And this is Matt." She gestured to the boy with greased back, shoulder-length brown hair. He waved sheepishly. "And Jerry." The boy with the shaggy black hair jerked his chin toward Rory. "Can we help you find your first class?"

Rory's eyes were wide. The effect of her change in uniform was unfathomable. The students here were extremely shallow. When she wore green, they called her names and shooed her out of the compartment, but now that she wore their favorite color, the only insufferable characteristic of these gits was their insincerity. She glanced one last time at Nate and Fritz, who had resumed their laughter. "Uhhh... sure?" she agreed. She snatched a danish from the table and allowed the group to accompany her to Classroom 72.